Chaos ran rampant through the streets of London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool (among others) from the 6th to the 9th of August, 2011 as hundreds of rioters trashed stores and burned down buildings for reasons that were for the most part inexplicable. What started out as a peaceful protest in reaction to the fatal shooting by police of a Tottenham local quickly turned into a slew of pointless, barbaric, copycat violence that slowly spread from city to city. Britons watched on the news and on the streets themselves as the country tore itself apart, hordes of youths rampaging across England to loot local shops and commit horrifying acts of arson.

16,000 police officers patrolled the streets on the last night of the riots to protect the UK from the animalistic violence, in the end resulting in more than 1,600 arrests. And amidst all of this mindless anarchy were photographers (both professional and amateur) snapping striking images of these acts of thuggish criminality. Here are the top 20 most amazing of these images, assembled in no particular order. [Read more…]